Literacy Programs and Projects

Brain Development

Jack P Shonkoff Presentation

“In brief: The Science of Early Brain development”, Harvard University.

Find a clear and factual presentation on the importance of early brain development and relationships here:

http://bit.ly/pT0h2q

Brain hero is also a very dynamic presentation:

http://bit.ly/plPmyr

The Centre for the Developing Child at Harvard University is at the forefront of early childhood research.

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/

National Year of Reading 2012

Love to read

2012 is the National Year of Reading in Australia. Early Words is proud to be a partner with Love to Read. Many sponsors, partners and friends are already on board with lots of exciting activities being planned. This is a great chance for the whole community- from babies to retirees- to focus on literacy. The team at Love to Read are easy to chat to and so enthusiastic. Join their facebook page, and look at the website and wiki. Find out more here: http://www.love2read.org.au/

 

 

 

Auburn Diversity Services Inc

Himali Wettasinghe and her team enthusiastically run 5 multicultural playgroups and parenting support groups at Auburn Diversity Services Inc. and coordinate Paint Auburn Read.

They work with a diverse community, new migrants and refugees.

They have asked for input from early literacy and transition to school specialists as the programme developed.

Their programme is constantly evaluated and changed to meet changing community needs in early literacy.
Volunteers, story and rhyme times, use of Early Words and specific school transition activities all help families focus on early literacy.
The programme format runs differently to accommodate as much learning for both adults and children as possible.

The programme has a strong early literacy focus for children and adults. Sections of the Early Words videos are shown as part of the programme at a time when parents are most attentive.

Rhyme time is taken at the beginning of the programme rather than as a pack up activity. This helps parents understand the importance of rhythm and rhyme.

3 Storytimes are held, one weekly at ADSI, and two monthly at Auburn Megamall.
Judy, a retired local librarian, with wonderful skills in storytelling, singing and rhyming helps in the programme as a volunteer.
Routines are clearly displayed for parents.

Himali also coordinated the first Paint Auburn Read reading day including storytime in community languages.
Himali designed the artwork for Paint Auburn Read and even sourced the mascots costume more cheaply through the internet. The first Reading Day was highly successful, with storytimes at the shopping centre in 4 different languages.
Next year they will be training young volunteer storytellers for the day.

Himali’s favourite book has to be “We’re going on a bear hunt” by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.
This is such a fun book and great to explain to families about building memory when reading stories.
Links for We’re going on a Bear hunt activities- examples on the internet:

Michael Rosen (author) YouTube video- he just loves dramatising the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc0U2WAz4s

http://bit.ly/oWfAv7

Boardmaker share (you have to register) http://www.boardmakershare.com/Activity/850871/were-going-on-a-bear-hunt

Himali is happy to be contacted to talk about her programmes at Auburn Diversity Services Inc:

himali@auburndiversity.org.au

 

Riverstone Families Connect

Riverstone Families Connect developed a partnership model working with local childcare services. The important focus of early literacy for families was shown through rhyme time provision.

The coordinator liaised with services about early literacy provision.

The "Reading Bug" and Craig from the Song Room visited centres and ran nursery rhyme sessions, modelling to staff and enjoyed by children. A simple CD of the songs was made and sent home to families, so everyone could sing the nursery rhymes at home. The Early Words resources were then sent home to families to expand the early literacy theme and support parents as teachers. In 2011 the programme is focusing on families that do not access prior to school services with a weekly singing and rhyming group.

More from Maria… Rhyme Time ‘Rhyme Time’ is a weekly singing and rhyming group for children under 5 years (with a focus on the under 3’s) and their parents. It is part of the Riverstone Paint the North West REaD early literacy initiative.

You may well ask why this group is necessary when as a service we have already taken this initiative to many of the early childhood centres in the area. Well, the answer is contained in the program’s key message of ‘REaD, Rhyme, Sing and Talk to you child ever day from birth’. Here in Riverstone many children either do not attend any prior to school services or only do so the year before they start school. The question we asked was ‘how then do we promote the important messages of early literacy to these families?’ Our answer was ‘Rhyme Time’.

Every Monday morning families expectantly gather, awaiting the grand entrance of Craig and the REaDing Bug, who with the use of a guitar, some puppets, musical instruments and their enthusiasm lead the children through 45 minutes of traditional and modern rhymes and songs. Many of the children are too young yet to sing the words, but participate nonetheless. With the use of their natural rhythmic abilities they clap, dance and wiggle their participation. Some hand actions then follow, learnt through 2 terms of repetition and a sure indicator of their ability to differentiate between songs. Mastery and confidence is then next, displayed as the children stand up at the front of the group to showcase their new abilities to proud parents.

As most of the children are still very young there is no expectation that they will sit for the whole group and no child is forced to participate in this way. Rather workers make changes to the environment; packing away the toys so there is less distraction; request that parents sit down as group participants rather than chase their children around, so as to model the behaviour they’re trying to achieve; and lastly props and instruments are used to ‘cue’ children in to where we want their attention to be.

So, while parents have been loud and clear with their positive feedback about the early literacy skills their children are learning, as with all the groups the benefits extend wider than the stated key outcome. Morning tea and a play activity at the end of the group ensure that there is time for adults to connect and build their social networks. Also, information about other groups and local events is given out and this has meant that over time many families have begun to attend more than one of our weekly groups, enabling us to build stronger relationships with them.

So ‘Rhyme Time’ is that and more – literacy time, connect time and fun time are just some of the additional outcomes of this initiative that has been our Monday mornings here at Riverstone Families Connect for the last half of 2010. What a great way to start the week!

Contact: Marisa Turcinskis

First Steps Early Literacy Kit.

A Families NSW Project. Fairfield Council, Sydney.

Access:

• Early literacy information sheets

• In community languages

• Usable as a resource folder for workers

• Australian and international resources

• Reflects current research

• Hyperlinks to some information This kit can take time to download, and may work better with particular search engines. Find more information here: http://bit.ly/ifO2ea

Phone Fairfield Council: Children’s Services: 9725 0393.

 

Follow the links to find more information on other current early literacy programmes in Australia and the rest of the world.

Children’s Literacy - Australia

Let’s Read

The Centre for Community Child Health, in partnership with the Smith family, is rolling out the Let’s read project, to promote reading with young children aged 0–5.The Early Words Early literacy project is linked to this initiative in one local government area in Sydney.

National Literacy and Numeracy week

Initiated by the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Education, Science and Training and run annually in collaboration with the States and Territories.

As part of this week the inaugural 'Read Aloud Summit' was held in 2005.

Australian Bookstart projects

SHELLS (Newcastle area)

Home support programme for early language and literacies, run by the University of Newcastle's Children and Education Research Centre (CERC), for local communities.

HIPPY

Home-based early intervention programme for children in the 2 years prior to school entry (4 and 5 year olds).

Stronger Families and Communities

Australian Federal Government early intervention strategy to run 2004–2009.

The Australian Early Development Index

Community measure of young children’s development.

Children’s Literacy - International

Reach Out and Read (US)

Successful American initiative based on supporting children’s literacy when they visit the doctor with parents or carers.

Sure Start (UK)

Research, training and resources for those caring for the under 3s.

Booktrust (UK)

Umbrella for a number of projects and initiatives to bring books and people together.

Bookstart (UK)

One of the initiatives associated with Booktrust. Focuses on early literacy. Aims to reach every 6–9 month old baby in England. Currently being extended to include all the pre-school years.

Talk to your baby (UK)

UK National Literacy Trust campaign to encourage parents and carers to talk more to children from birth to three.

Resources include research, tips for parents, and advice for those wanting to develop similar programmes.

The early years library network (UK)

Seeks to raise the quality of library services to pre-school children and their families. Provides national support for specialist early years library staff and spreads good practice across the whole public library sector, including library authorities with no specialist staff.

Storysacks (UK)

UK library/social services initiative, based on using a sack with soft toys and props to support the telling or reading of stories. It has become a popular, non-threatening way of encouraging parents and carers to start sharing stories with their children, especially for parents with little positive experience of books.

Particularly successful with multicultural communities, including traditional stories.

Linked to the government’s Surestart Initiatives.

Adult literacy

Parents who cannot read can still pass on the love of language and stories to their children. Here are some tips.

The Reading Writing Hotline

The Australian Government funds this hotline. This national telephone literacy referral service is for adults and will direct you to local literacy assistance.

Call 1300 655 506.

Local literacy support for adults - TAFE NSW

Blacktown, Baulkham Hills, Granville, Lidcombe, Wetherill Park and Mt Druitt TAFE colleges run free language, literacy and spelling courses. Follow this link to search for a literacy course at a TAFE near you.

Adult literacy and numeracy courses are free for Centrelink clients who receive a benefit, provided Centrelink makes the referral. For more information, go to the Centrelink website.

Phonological Awareness and it's role in Learning to Read

Snow, Part 1, IRA paper and Bryants chapter

Gaining a full understanding of Phonological Awareness in the years prior to school id critical.

Children who start school with more developed phonological awareness skills generally have an easier road to reading.
Thispdf document clearly and simply states definitions and development of phonological awareness in the early years.

Download PDF